A dedicated Records Management Unit in my Department oversees and promotes the implementation of the Department’s records management policy guidelines. These guidelines demonstrate how the creation and maintenance of complete and accurate records is essential to enable the Department to carry out its business and to meet its statutory obligations under the National Archives Act, 1986 and other legislation including the Freedom of Information Acts, the Data Protection Act and the Ethics in Public Office Act. The guidelines, which are regularly updated and issued to all staff, serve to inform staff of the procedures for classifying, filing and retrieving records while also ensuring that standards for a systematic and consistent approach to creating, maintaining and disposing of records continue to be practised by all staff.
The Records Management Unit works closely with senior management to ensure that officers in each business unit are assigned responsibility for managing records in accordance with the provisions of the National Archives Act. In-house training courses are also provided by the Records Management Unit for staff who have specific records management coordination functions. In addition, all Principal Officers and Heads of Units in my Department act as Certifying Officers under the National Archives Act. The role of the Certifying Officer is to sign the Certificates provided for in Sections 7 and 8 of the Act which relate, respectively, to the retention and disposal of Departmental Records and the transfer of Departmental Records to the National Archives.
While it is not the practice of my Department to employ an archivist to examine records and archives once records are deemed appropriate for archiving, my Department regularly engages with the officials in the National Archives Office for the purpose of availing of their advice and guidance with regard to the implementation of the provisions of the National Archives Act, 1986.
